Customer Reviews

Gujarati Dictionary and Phrasebook: English-Gujarati / Gujarati-English (Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebooks) (Gujarati Edition)

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There is no pronunciation section in this book. I had to figure out the pronunciation by looking at the order of letters in the Gujarati-English section of the dictionary, which is arranged not according to the English alphabet, but according to the Gujarati alphabet, even though it is romanized. This romanization is quite strange. In some cases, h means aspiration, but in other cases it means a dental sound. U with grave accent is not a vowel, but a retroflex aspirated t. Capital O with circumflex accent is not a vowel, but a retroflex aspirated d.
The grammar section is a little bit better than the romanization, but also inadequate. No mention is made of the oblique case, the nominative is treated as if it is the only case in the language. There is no section on pronouns. Several pronouns are finally mentioned in the section General Words and Phrases, but with no indication that Gujarati distinguishes between exclusive and inclusive 'we'. There is some inconsistency in the transcription, in the grammar section 'boy' is chhokro, in the dictionary it is chhokaro. And there are other examples. This inconsistency is not explained.
At least the cultural section of the phrasebook seems good, quite detailed.

This is, without question, the worse book I have ever purchased. The pronunciation system utilized is awful! Simple words, those words one would expect would be represented in any dictionary, can't be found. What a disappointment.

I am born and brought up in Gujarat. Bought it for my American husband and this book does nothing. It is quite inaccurate and pronunciation
guide is WRONG.

It's good for the basics. You definitely need a CD or native speaker to help you truly get sounds correct.